Michelle Malkin's silly, baseless, "Obama Dear Leader" witch hunt

More at Zennie62.com | Follow me on Twitter! | Get my widget! | Visit YouTube | Visit UShow.com

UPDATE: Malkin sends crazy right-wingnuts to attack Zennie

Michelle Malkin's being silly and I'm gonna have a lot of fun!

The idea that conservatives - or those who choose to follow what I call a "couch potato conservative" line as if they were Star Trek's "The Borg Collective" - have been mean, biased, misguided, and silly in the Age of Obama is proven every day in ways large and small.

Michelle Malkin, who brands herself a conservative blogger, has just shown a new way to present conservative silliness: picking on little school kids and teachers who make up songs about President Obama.

Man, this is about as bad as the birthers, and I've said a bunch about them...



Poor Michelle got herself in a fit because a teacher at B. Bernice Young Elementary School in Burlington Township, NJ had her students make up a song about President Obama.

I mean, Michelle got really upset about the matter. Why? It's not like the town is Republican; it's over 50 percent Democrat and the way the GOP's going that 46 percent claiming to be for them is going to shrink for sure.

Plus, from what I've seen the kids didn't go off and complain. And Michelle's right about someone saying "Hey you're reacting because its kids of color so you're being a bit racist there" because she is being just that. Really. She is. So stating it was a good idea even if it doesn't soften the intellectual blow that's coming.

Why do I make that claim?

First, why in God's name would Malkin link to every conservative flack on the block about this matter, and uh, second, forget that in 2006 school kids were instructed to make up a song praising FEMA and its work in the wake of Hurricane Katrina and then sing it directly to Laura Bush!

I'm serious! Stop laughing. Check the link above.

So these kids - none of color by the way - were brainwashed to think the government did a great job in "restoring" Louisiana after Katrina when it point of fact almost 1/16th of America was socially and economically devistated and FEMA did nothing to provide meaningful relief in a timely fashion.

Yet, Michelle Malkin's whining about a harmless song about President Obama, who took over an American Economy wrecked by George W. Bush, including a Louisiana that's a shadow of its former self in the wake of Katrina.

And speaking, er, writing of President Bush, what about the "Jesus Camp" where kids were worshiping a cardboard cutout of good old Number 43? Ah, didn't see it? I've got it right here for ya:



Now I'd bet Michelle would say, "Aww, that's so cute!" Why? Because the kids are white and its George Bush? Yeah, right. And so there's the racial problem - she can ignore singing if its done by white school kids praising a white Republican President, but if the subject's America's first black President, she gets really mad.

Oh, brother.

Michelle, please. Come, on. Will ya? You've got no choice here; no cherry picking. Either accept them all, or denounce them all.

I told you I was going to have fun!

Joe Wilson, GOP Congressman, apologized to President Obama

More at Zennie62.com | Follow me on Twitter! | Get my widget! | Visit YouTube | Visit UShow.com

 

Rep. Joe Wilson

Republican Congressman Joe Wilson (R - South Carolina), who gained immediate Internet-fueled fame for yelling "You Lie" to President Obama during Obama's great health care speech, reportedly called White House Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel to apologize to the President for his outburst.

CNN.com posted Rep. Wilson's statement:

“This evening I let my emotions get the best of me when listening to the President’s remarks regarding the coverage of illegal immigrants in the health care bill. While I disagree with the President’s statement, my comments were inappropriate and regrettable. I extend sincere apologies to the President for this lack of civility.”

The response to Wilson's brief heckling was swift, and while some people defended his action, the vast majority of observers rightly saw it as an offense to the office of The President of The United States.

His outburst resulted in 2010 Democratic challenger Rob Miller raising over $70,000 online in just five hours.

Republican Congressman Joe Wilson yells "You Lie" to President Obama

More at Zennie62.com | Follow me on Twitter! | Get my widget! | Visit YouTube | Visit UShow.com

UPATE: Joe Wilson is Top Trend on Twitter, and getting slammed, too.

Some are asking who was the person yelling "You Lie" out to the President as he explained that illegal aliens would not receive health care

According to the Huffington Post, That person's Republican Congressman Joe Wilson of South Carolina. I personally thought his outburst, which caused Democrats on the other side of the congressional aisle to boo, was very disrespectful and marks a period of less than classy discourse and behavior.

The bottom line is that it's not part of the heath care reform proposal.

On CNN's Larry King, Senator John McCain said it was totally disrespectful and that Wilson should apologize immediately.

Colin Powell rumored to be selected for high-level post

More at Zennie62.com | Follow me on Twitter! | Get my widget! | Visit YouTube | Visit UShow.com



YouTube, MySpace, Metacafe, DailyMotion and Blip.tv

This blog post is to be filed under "hedging my bets" because it's based on a tip from a very good friend who texted me that Ret. General and Former Secretary of State Colin Powell was to be named as Deputy Commerce Secretary under Gary Locke.

But Dennis Hightower - who's referred to as the "Colin Powell" of business and serves on the Howard University Board of Trustees with Powell - was sworn in to that position August 11th.

So either there will be two deputies, or my friend's source (who's a friend of General Powell) got it wrong, or Powell's headed to another high level post, or some hybrid possibility's afoot.

But since my friend is not in the habit of calling or texting me with this kind of tip (or any kind for that matter) and remained firm that the news was certain when I fired off questions , I elected to pull the trigger on issuing this rumor. Moveover my friend and I both worked for several years on the Obama campaign and gained a lot of well-placed contacts, so the chance my friend's correct is pretty high.

But to be sure, I just called the White House and The Department of Commerce for confirmation - no "yea" or "no" but a promise to "check and call me back" as of this writing.

Powell the focus of many appointment rumors

Since Barack Obama became the 44th President of The United States, Powell, who endorsed him even though the General's a Republican and Obama's a Democrat, has been rumored for a high-level post. Last December it was Mid East envoy, before that it was defense secretary, and for a time education secretary. And while Obama has stated that Powell would have a role within his administration, he hasn't made that happen. Meanwhile, Powell has taken to the airwaves to express concern with the President's economic strategy.

Powell appears on CNN's Larry King Show three weeks ago to talk about the Gates / Crowley issue and said he was concerned with how much money the Obama Administration was spending and where it was going. On King's show, he said:

"And the greatest concern I'm hearing -- and I see as a citizen and I hear from my fellow citizens as I go around the country -- is, my gosh, where is all this money coming from? Doesn't this mean more taxes? And we have to do -- what the administration, I think, and the Congress, has to do a better job in helping the American people understand some of these most complex issues, health care being number one.”

So it may be that Obama's planning to put Mr. Powell in a position to help him focus on the health care issue, or the economy in general. Regardless of the direction, it's clear that President Obama wants Colin Powell in his administration in some kind of way.

Stay Tuned.

President Obama on BlogTalkRadio Wednesday

More at Zennie62.com | Follow me on Twitter! | Get my widget! | Visit YouTube | Visit UShow.com

For the first time, a sitting American president will speak on an internet social network audio program.  According to Politicalcarnival Blog, President Obama will be on a speical show called "40 Minutes For Health Reform" on BlogTalkRadio.com this Wednesday August 19th at 5 PM to talk about reforming the nations health care system.  The President will join clergy and "people of faith" in a national campaign they've established to promote health care reform (of some kind).  The website FaithforHealth.org reports:

Over the next 40 days, people of faith are leading a national campaign for health care reform. While members of Congress are in their home districts, we’ll be holding hundreds of prayer vigils and in-district events. We’ll sign petitions, write our representatives, organize a nationwide conference call for people of faith, and air a national TV ad –all to say the faith community supports health care reform.

With his participation in this BlogTalkRadio show, Obama officially becomes the nations first "Socially Networked President", using Twitter, Facebook, and YouTube to distribute his message.  The Obama Administration has correctly reasoned that since a growing number of people around the World get their news from muliple media sources, it's better to have him appear in blogs and on web-based news sites, social networks, and now audio internet broadcasts like BlogTalkRadio.

BlogTalkRadio goes into the mainstream

Obama has overnight thrust BlogTalkRadio into the mainstream. Right now, it draws about 4.5 million listeners, but really could double that mark and probably will grow to that point after Wednesday's show.  It's really a neat system where anyone can establish their own call-in program; all they need is a computer and a cell phone - account creation and show construction is free because BlogTalkRadio is ad supported.  (I have one called "Zennie62" and my good friend and NFL Draft partner Bill Chachkes has an incredible show called "Football Reporters" that airs Thursday nights at 6 PM PST - 9 PM EST. Bill's show averages over 10,000 listeners per broadcast.) 

I'm excited to see how Obama's decision to go on BlogTalkRadio impacts its growth over the next year.  It's a really great system that one can use with YouTube and USTREAM to broadcast a multi-media show as I did here:



Oh, and unless you think Obama doesn't have his own show account on BlogTalkRadio, think again!  It's here.

Oh. About those protestors..

If I were you, I wouldn't be concerned with the prospect of crazy, right-wing extremists flooding the Obama show with irate calls just as they have polluted selected health care town hall meetings with nearly all forms of bad behavior. The BlogTalkRadio system is such that the show producer can allow up to five callers and can select or even predetermine who gets to talk. In the case of Bill's football show, he sends an email to each one of us to call at a certain time; he's knows our numbers, which pop up on the show control board page, so he can just click on our numbers to talk.

President Obama it's your birthday; mine too!

More at Zennie62.com | Follow me on Twitter! | Get my widget! | Visit YouTube | Visit UShow.com



President Obama, it's August 4th, the day you were born in 1961 in Hawaii. Happy Birthday. It's also my birthday and I'm one year behind you. I didn't know that when we met at the Mark Hopkins on St. Patrick's Day of 2007, but when I realized we had that in common it made me reevaluate a lot of events in my life. On my birthday, I wish to share my thoughts with you and everyone.

For a long time I told people that because I was that one year behind you, I was always one year away from greatness. But I don't think that anymore. I'm great, just in a different way. You see, that you are president makes it ok for me to be who I've fought to be for most of my life: smart, confident, arrogant, caring, intellectual, nerdy, caring, a trekker, a vlogger, a blogger, and other adjectives - positive ones.

I fought to be me because I never wanted to be a stereotype. I have known black men who said they had two languages: "Black English" and English". One way of talking for us, the other way for everyone else. Me? I just had one way: standard English. And I worked to be articulate because I wanted to be arrogant - no it's not a good thing but it was a weapon. It was my shield from anyone regardless of color who would dare try and put me in a "box". I made sure they knew I didn't fit, even if I had to be intellectually intimidating. But around my friends, a group that formed because of our love for "Star Trek: The Original Series", even to the point of forming a Star Trek Club, I wasn't that way.

Well, one reason was because they were just like me, so I didn't have to use myself as a weapon, I could be me and be liked. It's no wonder they're still my friends to this day, and yes, all white or Asian save for two people. Didn't matter. They were and are my touchstone. If anyone wonders what good Star Trek TOS did for America here's my answer: it gave folks like me a "place to be".

But my "place to be" expanded far beyond Star Trek a long time ago. It did for a number of reasons, but most of all, the growth of our generation. As we, you and I, came of age, there were black men like us who were fighting the same fight but we didn't know each other until we reached adulthood. I could name a lot of names, but you know who they are and so do I. Our collective growth and the overall mainstreaming of elements of black culture, specifically "Hip Hop", really made it ok for me to be me and for you to become president.

Now, Hip Hop drew in teenage whites and with so many non-white girls enjoying the music, set the stage for interracial dating and for meeting black men who while they liked the music, didn't fit the black male stereotype. In fact, with both black and white men enjoying the music, all of us realized that we had not just the music in common but other activities as well. This really rapid social integration, something seldom talked about, is Hip Hop's gift to America.

America has melded, grown, and changed because of Hip Hop, and because of people like Bernard Shaw, CNN's amazing former anchor and someone many called "The Black Walter Cronkite". Your speech at the 2004 Democratic National Convention marked the first time people of every stripe realized that we could have a black man as president. It was the first time people saw one of us on a national stage and accepted that person as something that person wanted to be - leader of the free world - and not a stereotype.

And now you're POTUS, and a good one at that.

So I say, Happy Birthday, Barack.

And thanks.

Lou Dobbs home to "birthers" and white supremacists

More at Zennie62.com | Follow me on Twitter! | Get my widget! | Visit YouTube | Visit UShow.com



On YouTube.com

After years of ducking complaints about his occasionally offensive coverage, Lou Dobbs, host of CNN's Lou Dobbs show, may finally see either the end of his days of pretty much getting away with whatever "fact" he puts out, or the end of his show altogether. As one who went on a video attack regarding his economic views a while back - see below - I'm glad to see it. But Lou's idiotic views on the economy pale in comparison to his use of story angles from white supremacists groups, even to the point of using websites representing such views as sources. Indeed, one Newsvine blogger SkeeterVT links the current "birther" movement and Dobbs coverage of it to white supremacists groups, but it's not Dobbs first time helping such wingnuts. More after my "Lou Dobbs in an idiot on the economy" video:



Dobbs is friend to white supremacists

Google "Lou Dobbs white supremacist" and one sees over 23,000 results, the vast majority related to his series of stories on illegal aliens. In fact, it was an every day constant drum beat from Lou well through 2008. But Bill Scher of the Huff Post reports that as far back as 2006, Dobbs story source was the Council of Conservative Citizens, a group that was pointed to as having a "white supremacy" ideology according to the Anti-Defamation League. What was Dobbs talking about? The supposed "Mexican campaign to recapture the Southwest", an idea that was slammed by many as completely, well, idiotic.

And the Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC), another anti-racism watchdog group, has pointed specifically to Dobbs for hosting white supremacists as far back as 2004. One of them, Glen Spencer, has spoken at least twice to the white supremacist Council of Conservative Citizens, which has described blacks (like me I guess) as "a retrograde species of humanity." And the SPLC explains that Dobbs never mentioned the affiliation of Spencer or for that matter Joe McCutchen who was famous for writing anti-Semitic "letters to the editor" to various publications.

Virginia Abernathy was another Dobbs guest with ties to the Council of Conservative Citizens, in her case as an editorial adviser according to Commondreams.org and other sources.

CNN offered an explanation for the Dobbs connection to the Council of Conservative Citizens in an email to onepeoplesproject.com as presented by LaLuchaSigue:

A freelance field producer in Los Angeles searched the web for Aztlan maps and grabbed the Council of Conservative Citizens map without knowing the nature of the organization. The graphic was a late inclusion in the script and, regrettably, was missed in the vetting process.

Oh c'mon! Blaming this on one field producer doesn't even touch the question of who booked this cast of characters to be on Dobbs show!

Dobbs, white supremacists and the birther movement

And just when I though Lou had returned to more credible reporting, he sits with white supremacists once again in giving a platform to the birthers. As I explained above, Newsvine's SkeeterVT's blog post today connects Andy Martin, a well-known white supremacist and friend of and guest of Fox News Sean Hannity, is now associated with Dobbs as one who's actions are given credibility by Dobbs' coverage. Forget Alan Keyes, who's a fake conservative searching for votes, attention, and money, people like Martin should be feared and not given a platform, even indirectly, by people like Dobbs.

CNN should be ashamed

CNN is a better organization than the way they're allowing Dobbs to present them. There's a wealth of evidence that Lou Dobbs is providing a home for white supremacist views and opinions. Dobbs even went so far as to go out and by "Obama Waffles" and CNN did nothing. Why? And why has CNN not made an issue of this until now?

Ratings.

When Lou was hammering Mexicans and hosting white supremacists, the ratings were terrific - as much as 816,000 daily viewers in 2006 and a 33 percent increase over 2005 - and CNN came to his defense. But now, Dobbs ratings are down 15 percent as of this writing and during his coverage of the birther movement; its the ratings fall that makes Dobbs suddenly expendable to CNN. While CNN's defended Dobbs recently, there are behind the scenes rumblings that his show may have met its end.

Thank God!

Making money off race hate may have worked in the pre-Obama America, but in an America with its first African American President Obama and first Latino treasurer in Rosie Rios, to offer but two examples of our ever diversifying USA, the racist media party is over.